Father's Day
by ElesaryAyres
Summary: Mindy keeps thinking she sees her father, but that's impossible, because she watched him die, and anyway, Big Daddy would never hurt people, right? But she has more to worry about, because something is wrong with Marcus, and she's afraid she might just lose Dave to Katie's evil clutches. Mindy's pretty sure most twelve year olds don't have to worry about all this stuff.
1. Chapter 1

Dave

Friday, January 31

2:59 PM

I waited outside of Mindy's school. Everyday I picked her up and drove her to safe house #3 where we would train until I was all but, when I would drive her back to school for cheerleading practice.

None of that irony was lost on me; I literally drove my tiny tormenter to her torture chamber. And Mindy was actually a cheerleader. Well, she was only a cheerleader to keep Marcus in the dark about our… extracurricular activities. As far as her guardian knew, Mindy had practice everyday for three hours; actually, it was only twice a week and an hour and a half.

The rest of the time we spent training or patrolling.

The bell rang at three releasing a stream of students from the doors of the school I had spent too many years attending. I was much happier at the college I attended part time when I wasn't being Kick- Ass.

Mindy came sprinting out of the doors ahead of the rest of the students, diving in the car with a furtive look back at the building. "Drive, bitch," she ordered as a greeting.

I put the car in drive and pulled away. "So," I asked in the same voice I used when I convinced Katie I was gay.

Mindy glared at me, "I fucking hate middle school."

I grinned at her, "Just wait til high school."

"Shut the fuck up!"

I laughed as I parked in front of a nondescript group of warehouses. I grabbed Mindy's bag as we walked around the corner to the hidden entryway. My phone began buzz insistently in my back pocket. I sighed and shoved Mindy's bag at her. "I need to take this."

She smirked at me, knowing who was on the other end. "Tell Katie I send my love!"

I would certainly _not_ tell Katie that.

"Hello?" I answered the phone, resigned to the fact that she was not going to be pleased with me.

"Wanna do something tonight?" she replied, as if she didn't know the answer.

"I would love to but-"

She cut me off. "You have to spend Friday night with a twelve year old? Where have I heard that one before?"

"Katie…."

"Do you have any idea how creepy it is how much time you spend with her? There are only so many excuses I can make for you for our friends!" yep, she sounded pretty angry.

"I'm sorry, Katie, we can do something this weekend if you want."

"If I- For the love of God Dave, I'm getting really fed up with playing second fiddle to Mindy-"

Mindy emerged from the safe house in her workout clothes and winked at me, "Dave? I need some help with my homework-" I frantically gestured for her to shut up, her grin widened and her voice got louder. "And my peanut butter and jelly sandwich!" she slammed the door on Katie's shriek.

I winced. "She's just trying to get a rise out of you," I told my irritated girlfriend. "I have to go now."

"Fuck you, Dave." The phone went dead in my hand.

"Dammit!" I muttered, kicking the side of a dumpster. I was going to kill Mindy when I got her.

"Mindy!" I shouted as I shoved my way through the heavy steal door. "What the hell was that?"

I stalked past the illuminated costumes that stood at attention in the hallway. Big Daddy seemed to be guarding the Hit Girl costume, the image was burned in the back of my mind. I didn't think she noticed the symbolism, and now I was too pissed to dwell on it.

"Hey Dave," Mindy said happily as I stormed around the corner. "Still bitching?"

"Why do you have to toy with Katie like that?" I demanded.

Mindy tilted her head to one-side ticking off reasons with her fingers. "One, she pisses me off. Two, she doesn't like me. Three, I like that shade of red on you and four, using her is the fastest way to make you mad enough to actually hit like a man, which makes my job a lot easier. Now, do you want to change or shall I beat the shit out of you in normal clothes?"

Maybe it should embarrass me that I regularly got my ass handed to me by twelve-year-old girl, but honestly, because of that I rarely had to worry about getting beat up by anyone else.

Once I had changed into sweatpants I got on the treadmill next to Mindy's who was already on mile number seven without breaking a sweat. I slowly raised the speed on mine until I was at a comfortable run. "You have fifteen miles,"

Mindy was still running when I staggered to a stop panting and retching. I was relieved to see she was breathing heavily and sweating. She snagged her bottle of water, "Five minutes, Dave."

"Fuck… you…" I panted, collapsing.

She nudged me with her tow, "Get up or you'll cramp like a little bitch." She offered me her hand. I eyed it suspiciously. "Come on, I don't bite that hard."

"Ha!" I scoffed, taking her hand anyway. We circled each other on the mat. I felt my senses expand the way they did when I was fighting. I was more wary on the training mat than I was on the streets usually, which probably wasn't the best thing, but then, nothing I'd seen out there was as scary as the little girl in pigtails in front of me.

"You can attack me once in a while, you know." Mindy commented, and when I got a little distracted by her comment, sent a jab flying at my face. I blocked the punch and her follow up kick no problem but got nailed in the face with her (slightly) padded elbow when she used the momentum of my block to spin into me with her elbow out.

I didn't allow the stars dancing in my head to distract me; I stayed focused on catching one of her kicks. I had learned the hard way that I had to watch her hands feet and head so I wouldn't eat mat too often, but most moves originated from the core, and slight shifts in weight were better to trust than openings, which were usually traps.

But I wanted her kick me. I had been working on a certain move that I was dying to try out on Mindy. I blocked and retreated as much as I could while I waited for her to take the bait I was projecting.

She faked a punch up high and then dropped, spinning with one leg outstretched; I jumped over her leg and grabbed her as she stood up. I managed to put her in a clumsy headlock. She grabbed my forearms and used them to hold her weight as she linked her feet around the back of my knees and knocking me flat on my back.

My breath exploded from my lungs in a rush and she easily escaped my grasp. She walked over the edge of the mat and snagged her water bottle, taking a drink before she tossed it over to me.

"Not bad," she commented as I swallowed. "Wanna get pizza before you drive me back?"

"I want to go again."

Mindy raised her eyebrows; I was usually too busy dying to do anything but thank God whenever she called an end to these training sessions. "Alright, but I'm not going to go easy anymore."

"You were going easy?"

"Get up, you pussy, I usually don't hit whiny little bitch-girls, but I can make an exception."

I rolled my eyes at her abuse, but got to my feet again, flinging the bottle away. Her opening jab was faster this time and I had trouble blocking it. I barely managed to get my hands down in time to catch her foot when she kicked at me, but I grabbed it and prepared for next move. Like clockwork she leapt off her bottom leg and swung it at my head, as soon as she was in the air, I shoved the foot I held away from me with enough power to disrupt her balance and send her face flying to the mat. I brought up my knee under her chin, but allowed it to cushion her fall instead of knocking her teeth out.

"I did it!" I crowed as she hit the ground, which was my mistake, because she used her forearm to sweep my feet out from under me and then sat on my chest with her hand resting on my Adam's apple. I swallowed; I hated it when she did that.

"You did it, but you're still dead." She commented before clambering off me and heaving me to my feet. "I need to shower before you drive me back to school, so you can clean up the mat."

When she reemerged from her shower ten minutes later the mat was disinfected and the empty water bottle recycled. "Cool," she said, letting her dry hair back down from its bun. "Ready to go?"

"Sure," I replied, snagging my car keys. "Did you like the way I knocked you on your ass? I could've made you eat your teeth too."

She grinned at me viciously, "But you didn't, and I still killed you, so I guess you're still my bitch, huh?"

We blasted radio all the way back to school without anymore conversation; Mindy was too busy singing loudly and off key to any song that played. I grinned at her, marveling at how fun it was to just hang out with her.

Perhaps it was weird for a nineteen year old to spend so much time with a twelve year old like Katie said, but I had always felt a connection to Mindy and now she was a part of me. I couldn't not spend time with her. I needed her to function.

I pulled into the parking lot. "See you later, Min." I said, turning down the Selena Gomez song.

She grinned at me, "Bye, Dave," she slid out of the car and swung her bag over her shoulder before turning back to shut the door. She leaned against the car and bent down to catch my eye. "Good move by the way, maybe you're out growing your little bitch phase."

She slammed the door before I could reply and sauntered off.

I couldn't help but grin all the way home.


	2. Chapter 2

Dave

Thursday, January 23

2:29 AM

I knew that Mindy didn't have a traditional upbringing, but I would have thought that someone would have taught her to knock. But apparently no one had, because here she was, jumping on my bed at two thirty in the fucking morning.

"Learn to knock," I groaned rolling over and burying my face in my pillow.

She jumps on me and I wheeze, breath flying from my lungs. "Oops, Sorry!" she said. _Liar._

"What do you want?" I gasped, rolling over and dislodging her from my back.

She rolled to a seated position and smiled. "Its time to go to work." I tried to ignore the way her teeth gleamed underneath the mask and wig I noticed for the first time.

"Isn't it a little late for a school night?" I groaned when I got my breath back.

Mindy grinned excitedly. "This is a special case! A perfect crime scene, no prints, just pints of the victim's blood! Isn't that wonderful?" I was long past used to Mindy's sick enjoyment in getting criminals that were particularly hard to catch.

She was a bit of a fucking nut case, but she was all Mindy. So I grinned and got out of bed, changing as quickly as I could into my Kick- Ass suit. I was all caught up in her excitement, anxious to get to the scene and kick some fucking ass.

I feared Mindy was a bad influence on me.

We took the Mist Mobile, which Mindy had converted so it spit purple vapor instead of red. I had mixed feelings about this car. On the one hand it was obnoxious and obvious and drew way too much attention to the twelve- year old driving it. But on the other hand, it was a spoil of war, one that Mindy had certainly used. It was also immediately recognizable, crimes stopped when criminals saw it driving by and we had used it as a diversion on multiple occasions, drawing attention elsewhere while we snuck around the back.

When we entered the room, I thought it had been painted red; it took my first breath to realize it was all blood. Bits of body littered the floor and I was uncomfortably reminded of when Mindy saved my life by slaughtering the lowlifes in that apartment building.

Even with all this blood I could tell that the room was clean, the butcher hadn't left a trace. I glanced at Mindy, waiting for her to walk me through the series of events that led to this mess. She was able to analyze blood spatter and her knowledge of weapons to recreate the scene. To my shock, Mindy was pale beneath her mask and shaking. "Mindy?" it wasn't the blood or the gore or the scent, Mindy could handle all of those, it was the way she was raised. "What's wrong?" she glanced at me, her eyes panicked and angry, swaying on her feet.

I couldn't imagine what was bothering her, there had to be something I was missing. "Mindy!"

She looked at me and collapsed. I leapt forward and caught her before she hit the ground, my knees squishing in the rancid mix of blood guts and brain. I glanced around to make sure no one was around. Hit-Girl was gonna hate that she fainted, let alone if anyone knew about it.

I heaved her over my shoulder, as slim as she was she was heavier than she looked. Muscle is heavier than fat after all and her suit was at least 60 lbs. I took one last look at the crime scene before taking her out to the car. I laid her in the back of the mist mobile and covered her with a sheet of fabric we stored in the back to rip up for bandages.

The last thing I needed was to be stopped by the cops with an unconscious twelve year old in the back of my car.

She was still out when I got us to the safe house. I gently placed her on the couch and removed her wig and mask before bringing a glass of water in case she was thirsty when she woke up. I pulled up a chair and sat next to her. Why had she fainted? What was it about that crime scene that pushed her over the edge? Sure it was brutal, but Mindy had seen worse; hell, Mindy had _done_ worse. Whatever it was, I was worried.

By 3:30 AM I was pacing, she should have woken up by now. By 4, I was turning the phone over in my hands wondering at what point I should call an ambulance. So at 4:05, when her eyes began to flutter and she began to groan, I threw myself down by her side, careful not do get so close, Mindy tended to lash out when she woke up.

I wasn't wrong, before her eyes had even opened, she rolled off the side of the couch and landed in a crouch, drawing her knife from somewhere on her person. She looked around, scanning for threats.

"What the fuck happened, Dave?" she asked, gradually standing up and sheathing her knife, which disappeared as completely and suddenly as it had appeared.

"You fainted," I told her, creeping closer when it looked like she wasn't feeling so murderous anymore.

"I did not!" she cried, then winced, grabbing her head.

I smirked and handed her the water and a bottle of Advil. She took three and then shook her head and shook out two more. "Mindy…" I said, "too many pills is bad for you."

Mindy made a face and swallowed the pills, "Don't be a little bitch, Dave."

"Why'd you faint?" I asked when she was finished drinking.

"I already told you! I didn't faint!" I raised my eyebrows. "I…fell asleep, suddenly."

I tried to stifle my laugh.

"Shut the fuck up," she said half-heartedly, eyes on the ground.

"Hey," I said, "Look at me," her eyes gradually rose to mine. "What happened?"

Mindy sighed sat on the couch, I sat next to her. She slowly removed her heavy gloves as she began to speak.

"I've seen that crime scene before. Not that exact one, but many, many similar ones." She looked at me, her eyes haunted. "That was an exact replica of my fathers work."

I took a sip of Mindy's water to buy myself time to answer. We had watched Big Daddy die, but as logical and real Mindy was, she was still a child and had more cause to believe her father was invincible than any other kids. But Mindy wouldn't respond well to platitudes, she had seen what she had seen and she would reach the same conclusion I had, and she would resent me for pointing it out.

"I know," I said, instead of telling her it was a coincidence, or that she was reading too much into it. Or some sicko was copycatting Big Daddy on purpose, and if that was the case I was going to slaughter him for putting Mindy through this.

But for now, she needed rest so I pulled her to her feet and brought her to the bed we kept upstairs for emergencies. "What about Marcus?" she protested as I tucked her in.

"I'll call him," I promised. She mumbled something before falling asleep. I was beginning to understand Mindy; emotions exhausted her more than physical exertion.

I lied to Marcus about Mindy's whereabouts, knowing he had forbidden her Hit-Girl persona and spent the rest of the morning online, researching crime scenes that fit Big Daddy's profile. I found a bunch that was his from a few years ago, but I also found a few that were dated after his death. The only difference between the old ones and the new ones were the victims; Big Daddy killed drug lords and pimps, and his imposter killed families and college students.

I slammed the laptop closed and looked at Mindy, who had begun to shift restlessly and moan. I laid my hand on her forehead and she quieted. It seemed ridiculous, but I was protective of her. I would do anything to guard her from this.

My eyes burning with exhaustion, I leaned back in the chair I had pulled up to her bedside and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Dave

Sunday, January 16

6:52 AM

_The body fell to the floor with a sickening smack against the inch deep puddle of blood that covered the entire floor. The corpses lay strewn in piles around the room, familiar eyes wide and blank, staring at me accusingly, as if it were my fault they had been slaughtered._

_I couldn't see who the murderer was, just a figure with shadowed features, all in black._

_A door slammed, and I heard quick footsteps approach, sloshing carelessly through the pools of blood. "Hey cuntbag!" her familiar voice rang confidently through the room, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"_

_I immediately felt better. Hit-Girl was here, she would make everything ok. The figure turned his attention to her, towering over her, which should have made her previous statement laughable, but in all honesty, I felt kinda bad for the guy, even if he was one of the few I might actually wish Mindy on._

_She twisted her wooden staff, revealing a wicked blade to go with her vicious snarl._

_And then they were fighting, she darted and flipped around him, trying to avoid his much heavier blows while she struggled to make contact. Midway through one of her kicks he managed to grab her foot and used it to swing her over his head and slam her into the ground._

_She lay there, dazed, her staff rolling from limp fingers as I tried to scream her name. The figure moved calmly and slowly to fetch her blade. She looked into his face as he raised it above her body. "Daddy?" she gasped as he brought it down, plunging her own blade into her chest, killing her instantly._

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I woke up with a start, heart racing, sweating and shaking under my blankets. _It was just a dream._ I fumbled with my alarm clock as my heart rate slowly lowered. It was 7 AM; I had training with Mindy,_ who was still alive._

By the time I hit the shower I was feeling better. The sun had risen, no one was dead and I was about to get the shit beat out of me by a twelve year old. _Same old, same old._ The dream was almost entirely gone by the time I got to the safe house.

I didn't mention it to Mindy, I was too worried that it would remind her of why she fainted, and I knew she was stressed about the familiar crime scene already. I didn't have to add to it.

She was ready and waiting for me on the mat. "Get dressed, Dave, we have a lot to cover today." she said, whipping a towel over her shower and hopping on the treadmill.

I grabbed my training gear from the room next door and joined her, turning my music way up.

I waited for Mindy to bring up the crime scene, but she never brought it up. I knew it was on her mind, though because she kept me an hour later then she usually did, and she kept the breaks minimal, which was a sure sign that she was stressed.

I didn't want to leave her when we had finished, but I had promised Katie that we would do something today, because I had been neglecting her so much lately. But I had started to notice that I was putting Mindy first more and more often.

"I have to go, Min." I said as I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder, "But call me if you need anything."

She waved me off. "Give my best to Katie," she said sweetly, wearing her Hit-girl face.

"I am so not telling her that," I said, but I was smiling.

I was running late by the time I reached Katie's and I wasn't the only one who noticed.

She looked pissed when she opened the door for me. "Hey, Katie," I said, smiling as goofily as I could to relieve the tension. I pulled her in for a hug and a kiss.

"Get off of me!" she hissed, smacking me in the chest. I pretended to wince although privately I was a little shocked by just how weak she was in comparison to Mindy.

"I'm sorry I'm late." I said, letting her go. "I lost track of time."

"Yes, I'm sure spending time with your twelve year old was more important than being with your girlfriend."

"She's not my- look, can we just go inside and forget it? I don't want fight with you."

She bitched for a little bit longer, but she let me in and we ended up curled together on her couch, watching superhero movies while I told her why they were incorrect, but awesome just the same.

Katie was just putting on another movie when my phone rang. I knew that ring tone. It was a string of bad words so vile that only Mindy had the balls to use them, let alone record them for the world to hear.

Katie heard to, and turned around to glare at me. "What the hell is that?"

"I have to take this." I hurried into the hall before hitting the accept button. "What the Hell, Mindy?"

"Dammit Dave, say fuck like a normal person. I can't let you hang around me if you're going to speak like a little bitch. There's another crime scene, it's like the rest. Be at the address I texted to your phone in five minutes."

"I'm busy-"

"Five. Fucking. Minutes, Dave." The line went dead.

Katie was waiting for me when I reentered the living room. "Who was it?" she asked, even though we both knew that she knew.

I shrugged and reached for my jacket. "I have to go."

She looked at me with mad eyes, but her voice was calm. "I don't know what's worse? Having to compete with a child for my boyfriends attention, or losing."

"Katie…"

"Get the fuck out of here, Dave."

"I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you."

Katie turned away from me, "I doubt it."

I left without another word.

It took me ten minutes to get back to the safe house and another to change into my Kick-Ass costume. The address Mindy had given me was twenty minutes away.

By the time I arrived the police had left, leaving only yellow tape across the door. The house was dark and smelled of congealing blood, but not as bad as the last one did.

I drew my batons as I entered. "Hit-Girl?" I called, keeping my back to the wall as I crept inside. "It's me, please don't shoot me."

I found her in the living room, curled up on the sofa, reading a People magazine. Next to the couch was a large pool of congealed blood. I straightened and turned on a lamp.

"Comfortable?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"Celebrities are fucking morons." She threw the magazine into the blood, causing red droplets to fly. "And so are you. What took you so long? I said five fucking minutes, not the better part of a fucking hour! You need to get your shit together!"

I ignored her and examined the crime scene. "It wasn't the same person."

Mindy nodded. "Why?"

She was testing me. "This was methodical, one victim who wasn't torn to shreds. A cheating spouse perhaps, or something of that nature. Our perp would have made this…bigger." This wasn't something Big Daddy would leave behind, but I didn't mention that. If Mindy knew, she wouldn't thank me for bringing it up. And it was impossible anyway, so why put her through that?

Hopefully the copycat was a coincidence, and this would all blow over.

"Good. You can go now." She said, making shooing motions with her hands.

I stared at her aghast. "Did you call me all the way out here to test me?"

She stared at me as if I were a small child who had done something particularly stupid. "No shit, Sherlock."

"You have got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME! Do you have ANY IDEA how much you are FUCKING WITH MY RELATIONSHIP?"

"Calm your fucking tits and quit whining like a bitch! I don't like your girlfriend, and I never will; I think you can do better than a shit for brains hoe-bag. If she can't respect what we do, then I really don't give a flying fuck about her or your toxic fucking relationship!"

"Screw you!" I said and stormed out the door with frustration.

"Put on your big girl panties and say 'FUCK YOU'!" she called after me.

I had to go and apologize to Katie, and it was going to be a bitch because she was going to make me pay.

She didn't answer the door when I rang the bell but her car was parked in the driveway so I knew she was home. I carefully glanced around the nice neighborhood she lived in, and then, using the side of the house as a springboard, grasped her windowsill and pushed myself into her room.

She sat on her bed, crying. "Katie!" I said, reaching for her.

"No!" she cried, throwing herself away from me. "Haven't you hurt me enough? Why are you here? You know that Mindy needs you more." Actually, all of this was Mindy's fault. I loved Katie, and I was neglecting her over and over again. It wasn't fair to her, especially because she didn't know that Mindy was Hit-Girl.

"I am so sorry," I said, sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Why does no one pick me first?" she asked, peering at me through her fingers, her tear stained eyes were big and sad. "No one ever picks me first,"

I forced myself to swallow. What the hell had I been thinking, to leave this beautiful sexy girl? I remembered that I had reasons, good ones, but I couldn't for the life of me think of them.

"I'll never do it again," I promised her, ashamed of myself.

Katie wiped her eyes and smiled, suddenly seeming as good as new. "Great! See that you don't." she said, and crawled into my lap.


End file.
